Pentagon orders largest aircraft carrier to Caribbean amid continued boat strikes

The Pentagon is ordering the USS Gerald R. Ford — the world’s largest aircraft carrier — to the Caribbean as the Trump administration escalates its campaign against drug traffickers, Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell said Oct. 24.

“In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR),” Parnell said in a statement shared on X.

He added that the increased military presence will “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” and will strengthen ongoing efforts to “disrupt narcotics trafficking.”

The carrier’s deployment suggests the administration may expand its operations beyond maritime targets, according to The Wall Street Journal. Until now, U.S. strikes have primarily targeted vessels allegedly linked to drug-smuggling networks. Officials reportedly say the broader effort aims to dismantle narcotics trafficking and weaken Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Still, the U.S. has steadily built up its combat power in the region for weeks. As CatholicVote reported Oct. 17, the administration recently increased the number of deployed troops in the Caribbean to roughly 10,000. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump also confirmed he had authorized the CIA to conduct operations inside Venezuela.

The Journal reported that the carrier’s presence would allow commanders to launch higher-tempo airstrikes and shorten the flight distance for U.S. aircraft reaching land-based targets.

A day earlier, Trump hinted the campaign against drug traffickers may soon expand inland, CatholicVote reported.

“They are coming in by land. I told them, that’s next,” he told reporters at the White House. “The land is next. We may go to Congress and tell them, but I can’t imagine they’d have a problem.”

On Oct. 24, Hegseth also announced that U.S. forces carried out another “lethal strike” on a vessel operated by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which he said was “trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.”

According to combined reports, the strike is the 10th that the Trump administration has announced against alleged drug-smuggling vessels. The strikes have killed more than 30 people since the campaign began.